The present invention refers to a pipe insulation jacket, comprising a first jacket member having the shape of a semi hollow cylinder and a second jacket member having the shape of a semi hollow cylinder. Both jacket members have substantially identical cross sectional shape and can be joined to form a hollow cylinder thereby enclosing a pipe to be insulated.
Suspending or supporting thermally insulated pipes presents problems due to the fact that conventional insulators are not sufficiently strong for the brackets, by which the pipes are to be suspended or supported, to be attached to them. Therefore, pipe brackets are generally fixed directly to the pipe. This in turn requires additional insulation for the pipe brackets to prevent the formation of undesirable cold or heat bridges. It is obvious that providing additional insulation for pipe brackets is quite expensive.
A pipe insulator for suspension or support of a pipeline with cold insulation is known from the document EP 0 503 566. The pipe insulator mainly consists of two hollow cylindrical bush halves provided with an inserted ring segment of thermally insulated rigid cellular material resistant to pressure. This ring element extends over up to three quarters of the outside diameter of the matching cylindrical bush half. The outer skin of the pipe insulator is formed by a metal plate that at the same time forms the pipe bracket.
A fundamental disadvantage of pipe insulation elements provided with flexible portions and suitable for serving as suspension or support sections may be seen in the fact that they are resilient under the influence of exterior forces, occurring for example whenever metallic pipe brackets are used, usually leading to a compression of these flexible portions with the result that the pipe to be insulated is not supported or suspended as stably as would be desired.
Thus, it is an object of the invention to provide a pipe insulation jacket that ensures a safe and stable suspension or support of an insulated pipe, simultaneously having vibration-damping characteristics.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a pipe insulation jacket that can be easily and inexpensively manufactured and that can be quickly attached to a pipe and handled without problems.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a pipe insulation jacket that provides a good protection against humidity and/or steam penetrating into or escaping out of the insulation jacket.
In order to meet these and other objects, the invention provides a pipe insulation jacket comprising a first and a second jacket member, both made of a dimensionally stable, thermally insulating material having the shape of a semi hollow cylinder with a first radially extending end face, a second radially extending end face, an inner surface area and an outer surface.
Both jacket members have substantially identical cross sectional shape and are adapted to be joined to form a hollow cylinder thereby enclosing a pipe to be insulated. Thereby, the first end face of one jacket member faces the first end face of the other jacket member, and the second end face of the one jacket member faces the second end face of the other jacket member.
The inner surface area of the one jacket member, the inner surface area of the other jacket member, at least one of the first end faces of the one or the other jacket member, and at least one of the second end faces of the one or the other jacket member is provided with an elastic coating layer.
Due to the fact that both hollow cylindrical jacket members are made of a dimensionally stable material, a safe and stable suspension or support is ensured. The insulation jacket is compressed only minimally upon attaching a pipe bracket, in contrast to pipe insulation jackets provided with soft, resilient portions. The elastic coating layer provided on the inner surfaces of the hollow cylindrical jacket members acts as a vibration damping element; moreover, certain tolerances regarding the outside diameter of the pipe to be insulated can be compensated, such that no undesired gap arises between the hollow cylindrical jacket members and the pipe. Since the elastic coating layer extends also over at least one of the two adjoining end faces at both sides of the insulation jacket, it is ensured that the two adjoining end faces fully contact each other thereby providing an excellent protection from moisture and steam possibly penetrating the interior of the insulation jacket or escaping therefrom.
The pipe insulation jacket can be quickly and easily attached to a pipe to be insulated. For that purpose, the two hollow cylindrical jacket members are spread apart at one side to form a gap having at least a width corresponding to the outer diameter of the pipe, such that the insulation jacket can be radially pushed over the pipe.
In a preferred embodiment, the insulation jacket member of the invention comprises a tape common to both jacket members and covering both the outer surface area of the one jacket member and the outer surface area of the other jacket member. That tape links the two jacket members together at the side of the aforementioned second end faces of the two jacket members such that they can be spread apart from each other at the side of the first end faces to such an extent that the pipe insulation jacket can be radially moved onto the pipe to be insulated.
The tape comprises a tongue extending over the edge between the outer surface area and the first end face of one of the jacket members, whereby the surface of the tongue facing the outer surface area of the jacket member is provided with a self-adhesive layer to attach the tongue to the outside of the insulation jacket, bridging and sealing the previously created gap.